Time Line...

2,500,000BC-10,000 The Paleolithic (or Palaeolithic). "old age of the stone"; coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865.) is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of the first stone tools. It covers the greatest portion of humanity's time (roughly 99% of human history) on Earth, with the introduction of stone tools by hominids such as Homo habilis, to the introduction of agriculture and the end of the Pleistocene around 10,000 BC. The Paleolithic era ended with the Mesolithic, in Western Europe, and in areas not effected by the Ice Age with the Epipaleolithic (such as Africa).

200,000BC Earliest Homo sapiens (human) found in Ethiopia.  Africa, particularly central eastern Africa, is widely regarded within the scientific community to be the origin of humans and the Hominidae tree (great apes), as evidenced by the discovery of the earliest hominids and their possible ancestors, as well as later ones that have been dated to around seven million years ago – including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster –
 

60,000 BC Archiologists find the area in the north of Sudan was inhabited at least 60,000 years ago. A settled culture appeared in the area around 8000 BC, living in fortified villages, where they subsisted on hunting and fishing, as well as grain gathering and cattle herding.Evidence of human habitation in the Nile Valley since the Paleolithic era appears in the form of artifacts and rock carvings along the Nile terraces and in the desert oases. In the 10th millennium BC, a culture of hunter-gatherers and fishers replaced a grain-grinding culture. Climate changes and/or overgrazing around 8000 BC began to desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt, forming the Sahara. Early tribal peoples migrated to the Nile River where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralized society

50,000 years ago there is sharp increase in the diversity of artifacts. For the first time bone artifacts, and the first art appear in the fossil record in Africa. The first evidence of human fishing is also noted from artifact in places like Blombos cave in South Africa. After 50,000 years ago, firstly in Africa, it was found that he could easily sort the human artifacts into many different categories, such as projectile points, engraving tools, knife blades, and drilling and piercing tools. These new stone tool types have been described as being distinctly differentiated from each other as if each tool had a specific name. 3000 to 4000 years later this technology spread to Europe resulting in a population explosion of modern humans and also the extinction of the Neanderthals. The invaders commonly referred to as the Cro-Magnons left many sophisticated stone tools, cave art and Venus figurines.

(12,500–10,800BC) Early Natufian culture a prehistoric people that inhabited CanaanThe Natufians settled in the woodland belt where oak and pistachio were prevailing species. The underbrush of this open woodland was grass with high frequencies of grain. The high mountains of Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon, the steppe areas of the Negev desert in Israel and Sinai, and the Syro-Arabian desert in the east put up only small Natufian living areas due to both their lower carrying capacity and the company of other groups of foragers who denuded this large region. The houses of the Natufian are semi-subterranean, often with a dry-stone foundation. The superstructure was probably made of brushwood. No traces of mudbricks have been found that became common in the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, abbreviated PPN A. The round houses have a diameter between 3 and 6 meters, they contain a central round or subrectangular fireplace.
 

9600 BC The Holocene epoch is a geological period with a marked temperature variation. According to traditional geological thinking, the Holocene continues to the present. 

Graph of CO2 (Green graph), temperature (Blue graph), and dust concentration (Red graph) measured from the Vostok, Antarctica ice core as reported by Petit et al., 1999. Higher dust levels are believed to be caused by cold, dry periods.( from Wikipedia)
 

9500BC Tell Abu Hureyra site of an ancient settlement in Canaan or western Mesopotamia. It has been cited as showing the earliest known evidence of agriculture anywhere. It is located on a plateau near a south bank of the Euphrates River, presently beneath Lake Assad in northern Syria to the east of Aleppo. There were two separate periods of settlement, with a period of abandonment between.

 
7600-6000 Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Archeological work done at Jericho in the southern Canaan region.
Notes a change in culture. People living during this period began to depend more heavily upon domesticated animals to supplement their earlier mixed agrarian and hunter-gatherer diet. Architectural styles became primarily rectilinear; earlier typical dwellings were circular, elliptical and occasionally even octagonal. The technology of fire became well developed. Houses used white plaster floors, made of lime produced from limestone.

 6000 BC Hassuna or Tell Hassuna is an ancient Mesopotamian site situated in Iraq, south of Mosul.
People in the foothills (piedmont) of northernmost Mesopotamia where there was enough rainfall to allow for "dry" agriculture in some places. These were the first farmers in northernmost Mesopotamia (the region known as Assyria).

5400 BC. founding of Eridu (or Eridug, modern Tell Abu Shahrain, Iraq) was the earliest city in southern Mesopotamia. Seven miles southwest of Ur, Eridu was the southernmost of a conglomeration of Sumerian cities. 

4000 BC Sidon was inhabited then and perhaps as early as Neolithic times (6000-4000 B.C.). It later became one of the most important Phoenician cities, 1200 BC to 900 BC, and may have been the oldest. From here, and other ports, a great Mediterranean commercial empire was founded. Homer praised the skill of its craftsmen in producing glass and purple dyes. It was also from here that a colonizing party went to found the city of Tyre. 

3150 BC The Egyptian civilization began, with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. Thought to be the successor to the predynastic Scorpion and/or Ka, he is considered by some to be the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First dynasty, and therefore the first king of all Egypt

(2950-2900 BCE)  Stonehenge Phase I. The earliest portion of the complex dates to approximately this time. 
 

2750 BC  Tyre was founded on this date according to Herodotus. It appears on monuments as early as 1300 BC.  Tyrian merchants were the first who ventured to navigate the Mediterranean waters; and they founded their colonies on the coasts and neighboring islands of the Aegean Sea, in Greece, on the northern coast of Africa, at Carthage and other places, in Sicily and Corsica, in Spain at Tartessus, and even beyond the pillars of Hercules at Gadeira. Tyre juts out from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and it is located about 80 km (50 mi) south of Beirut 

2500BC  Expeditions launched by the Egyptians to the land of Punt (land of the Gods) were chronicled in more detail in later expeditions during the reign of the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut in the 15th century BC. The earliest evidence of agriculture, urban settlement and trade in Eritrea (Punt) was found in the western region of the country consisting of archeological remains dating back to 3500 BC. Based on the archaeological evidence, there seems to have been a connection between the peoples of the Gash group and the civilizations of the Nile Valley namely Ancient Egypt and Nubia. Ancient Egyptian sources also give references to cities and trading posts along the southwestern Red Sea coast, roughly corresponding to modern day Eritrea, calling this the land of Punt famed for its incense.

1991-1962 BC.  Amenemhet I  the first ruler of the twelfth dynasty. Was not of royal lineage. Amenemhat I moved the capital from Thebes to Itjtawy and was buried in el-Lisht.

1800 BC Egyptian Twelfth Dynasty came to an end

1795 – 1750 BC  Hammurabi (Akkadian from Amorite ˤAmmurāpi, "the kinsman is a healer," from ˤAmmu, "paternal kinsman," and Rāpi, "healer"; was the sixth king of Babylon. He became the first king of the Babylonian Empire, extending Babylon's control over Mesopotamia by winning a series of wars against neighboring kingdoms. After the days of Hammurabi, the cult of Marduk eclipsed that of Enlil; although Nippur and the cult of Enlil enjoyed a period of renaissance during the four centuries of Kassite control in Babylonia (c. 1570 BC–1157 BC), the definite and permanent triumph of Marduk over Enlil became felt within the Babylonian empire. 

(1570–1070 BC) The New Kingdom  was Egypt’s most prosperous time and marked the zenith of its power   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Egypt_1450_BC.svg

1800 BC -1200 BC Archaeological sites in India, such as Malhar, Dadupur, Raja Nala Ka Tila and Lahuradewa in present day Uttar Pradesh show iron implements. Some scholars believe that by the early 13th century BC, iron smelting was practiced on a bigger scale in India, suggesting that the date the technology's inception may be placed earlier

1440 BC The Egyptian reign of Amenhotep II, during which the first mention of the Habiru (possibly the Hebrews) is found in Egyptian texts. Recently discovered evidence indicates that many Habiru spoke Hurrian, the language of the Hurrians. The Habiru were possibly a social caste rather than an ethnic group, yet even so they may have been incorporated

14th century BC Mitanni sought peace with Egypt and an alliance was formed. During the reign of Shuttarna the relationship was very amicable, and he sent his daughter Gilu-Hepa to Egypt for a marriage with Pharaoh Amenhotep III. Mitanni was now at its peak of power. The Mitanni kingdom is thought to have been a feudal state led by a warrior nobility of Hurrite descent, with the infusion of some Indo-Iranians , who entered the Levant region at some point during the 17th century BC, their influence apparent in a linguistic superstrate in crecords. The spread to Syria of a distinct pottery type associated with the Kura-Araxes culture has been connected with this movement, although its date is somewhat too early.

1400 BCE.The first extant record of Mitra/Mithra is in the inscribed peace treaty between Hittites and the Hurrian kingdom of the Mitanni in the area southeast of Lake Van,  There Mitra/Mithra appears in the company of Varuna, Indra and the twin horsemen (Ashwini Twins), the Nasatyas, as the five beings invoked as witnesses and keepers of the pact, and all of whom the rulers of the Mitanni apparently worshipped. (Campbell, 1964 p 256).
 

14th century BC, the Hittite Empire was at its height, encompassing central Anatolia, north-western Syria as far as Ugarit, and upper Mesopotamia. After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the Levant associated with the sudden arrival of the Sea Peoples, the empire disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until as late as the 8th century BC.

1353 BC-1336 BC  The rule of  Akhenaten Effective spirit of Aten, first known as Amenhotep IV  and meaning Amun is Satisfied, was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. He is especially noted for attempting to compel the Egyptian population in the monotheistic worship of Aten.

(1334BC) Moses , Although it can not be verified a more recent and non-Biblical view places Moses as a noble in the court of the Pharaoh Akhenaten. A significant number of scholars, from Sigmund Freud to Joseph Campbell, suggest that Moses may have fled Egypt after Akhenaten's death when many of the pharaoh's monotheistic reforms were being violently reversed.

 1274BC The Battle of Kadesh took place between the forces of Ramesses II's Egypt and the Hittites of king Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh, the modern Tell Nebi Mend, on the Orontes River of modern Syria. Around Year 5 of Ramesses II's reign when the Pharaoh arrived in the vicinity of Kadesh (or more precisely May 12, 1274 BC based on Ramesses' commonly accepted accession date in 1279 BC). It was probably the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving perhaps 5,000 chariots.
 

1213 to 1203 BC  The black granite stela primarily commemorates a egyptian victory in a campaign against the Libu and Meshwesh Libyans and their Sea People allies, but its final two lines refer to a prior military campaign in Canaan in which Merneptah states that he defeated Ashkelon, Gezer, Yanoam and Israel among others. The stele has gained much notoriety and fame for being the only Ancient Egyptian document generally accepted as mentioning "Isrir" or "Israel". It is also, by far, the earliest known attestation of Israel. For this reason, many scholars refer to it as the "Israel stele". This title is somewhat misleading because the stele is clearly not concerned about Israel— in fact, it mentions Israel only in passing. There is only one line about Israel: "Israel is wasted, bare of seed" or "Israel lies waste, its seed no longer exists" and very little about the region of Canaan. Israel is simply grouped together with three other defeated states in Canaan (Gezer, Yanoam and Ashkelon) in the stele. Merneptah inserts just a single stanza to the Canaanite campaigns but multiple stanzas to his defeat of the Libyans. The line referring to Merneptah's Canaanite campaign reads: Canaan is captive with all woe. Ashkelon is conquered, Gezer seized, Yanoam made nonexistent; Israel is wasted, bare of seed.

 

(1200)BC The Iron Age is taken to begin in the 12th century BC in the ancient Near East, ancient Persia, ancient India (with the post-Rigvedic Vedic civilization), and ancient Greece (with the Greek Dark Ages). In other regions of Europe, it started much later. The Iron Age began in the 8th century BC in Central Europe and the 6th century BC in Northern Europe. Iron use, in smelting and forging for tools, appears in West Africa by 1200 BC, making it one of the first places for the birth of the Iron Age

1200 BC to 900 BC  Phoenician civilization  maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean. centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal regions of modern day Lebanon, Syria and Israel. The principal city's Tyre and Sidon 

1150 BC Internal troubles within Egypt lead to the withdrawal of the last Egyptian garrisons at Beth Shean, the Jordan Valley, Megiddo and Gaza, during the reign of Rameses VI. The Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and its chronology are much-debated. It is believed by Kenneth A. Kitchen [22] that the Exodus took place in the reign of Ramesses II due to the named Egyptian cities in Exodus: Pithom and Rameses. Evidence for an Israelite presence in Palestine has been found from only six years after the end of the reign of Rameses II, in the Merneptah Stele.

 

(1100-700)BC  Villanovan culture, the earliest Iron Age culture of central and northern Italy, abruptly following the Bronze Age Terramare culture and giving way in the 7th century BC to an increasingly orientalizing culture influenced by Greek traders, which was followed without a severe break by the Etruscan civilization. Villanovan cultural origins, but perhaps not all its peoples, lay in the Eastern Alps, with connections to the Halstatt culture. The Villanovans introduced iron-working to the Italian peninsula; they practiced cremation and buried the ashes of their dead in pottery urns of distinctive double-cone shape

1050 BCE until about 930 BCE. The United Monarchy (United Kingdom of Israel and Judah) refers to a period in the traditional account of the history of ancient Israel and Judah. It is believed that this happened around 1025 BCE. Samuel anointed Saul ben Kish from the tribe of Benjamin as the first king of the Israelites, supposedly in 1020 BCE. It was his successor, David c.1006 BCE, who was responsible for consolidating the monarchy and creating the first Hebrew state.

 

(1047 BC - 1007 BC)  King Saul in the Books of Samuel, the first king of the ancient Kingdom of Israel.

             Tribes of Israel 830bc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Levant_830.svg

(1000 BC)  In the time of King David, a friendly alliance was entered into between the Kingdoms of Israel and Tyre.

(930–586 BC) The Kingdom of Judah  was one of the successor states to the "United Monarchy" often known as the Kingdom of Israel. According to the Hebrew Bible, the Kingdom of Judah first emerged after the death of Saul the King, when the tribe of Judah elevated King David to rule over them.    The Davidic line survived for almost 350 years, until the Kingdom fell in 586 BCE to the Babylonian Empire under Nebuzar-adan, captain of Nebuchadnezzar's body-guard. This event coincided with the destruction of the First Temple of Jerusalem. Prior to this, several deportations of Judaean nobility and leading citizens occurred.

(911BC) The accession of Adad-nirari II, The beguining Neo-Assyrian Empire, lasting until the fall of Nineveh at the hands of the Babylonians in 612 BC. In the Middle Assyrian period, Assyria had been a minor kingdom of northern Mesopotamia, competing for dominance with Babylonia to the south. Beginning with the campaigns of Adad-nirari II, Assyria became a great regional power, growing to be a serious threat to 25th dynasty Egypt. It began reaching the peak of its power with the reforms of Tiglath-Pileser III (ruled 745–727 BC)[
 

9th century  BC:  Parshva, 23rd Tirthankar of Jain tradition, and at the same time the earliest figure of Jainism considered historically datable. There is no ‘God’ or ‘Creator of Universe’ as per Jainism. A Jain is a follower of Jinas ("conquerors"), human beings who have rediscovered the dharma, become fully liberated and taught the spiritual path for the benefit of beings. A major characteristic of Jain belief is the emphasis on the consequences of physical and mental behavior.[6] Because Jains believe that all living beings possess a soul, great care and awareness is required in going about one's business in the world. Jainism is a religion in which all life is considered worthy of respect and it emphasizes this equality of all life, advocating the protection of the smallest creatures.
 

(814)BC Carthage was founded in 814 BC by Phoenician settlers from the city of Tyre.

(800-396)BC  Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC approximately over the range of the preceding Iron Age Villanovan culture. The latter gave way in the seventh century to a culture that was influenced by Greek traders and Greek neighbors in Magna Graecia, the Hellenic civilization of southern Italy.
 

722 BC, Assyrian Captivity of the Israelites  nearly twenty years after the initial invasions and deportations, the Assyrian King Sargon finally finished what Tiglath-Pileser III began in 740 BCE. He completed the conquest of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by taking captive the capital Samaria after a three year siege (which happed to kill Shalmaneser V) and deporting the remaining Israelites, including the ruling class, to the cities of the Medes and other disputed areas, generally believed to be in or near the vicinity of conquered lands occupied by the Assyrian Empire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Deportation_of_Jews_by_Assyrians.svg

753 BC According to a legend, the city of Rome was founded by the twins Romulus and Remus on April 21,  and archaeological evidence supports the theory that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built in the area of the future Roman Forum, coalescing into a city in the 8th century BC. The city developed into the capital of the Roman Kingdom (ruled by a succession of seven kings, according to tradition), Roman Republic (from 510 BC, governed by the Senate), but finally the Roman Empire (from 27 BC, ruled by an Emperor); this success depended on military conquest, commercial predominance, as well as selective assimilation of neighboring civilizations, most notably the Etruscans and Greeks. Pieces of pottery that indicate the area of Rome may have been inhabited as early as 1400 BC have been discovered, whilst skeletons of the 10th and 9th centuries BC have recently been found in the Roman Forum

750 BC, a Kushite (Sudan) king called Kashta conquered Upper Egypt and became ruler of Thebes until approximately 740 BC. His successor, Piankhy, subdued the delta, reunited Egypt under the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, and founded a line of kings who ruled Kush and Thebes for about a hundred years.

586 BC  Jewish deportation to Babylon. The fall of the Kingdom of David to the Babylonian Empire under Nebuzar-adan, captain of Nebuchadnezzar's body-guard. The tribe of Judah had elevated King David to rule over them some 350 before .The fall of the kingdom coincided with the destruction of the First Temple of Jerusalem. Prior to this, several deportations of Judaean nobility and leading citizens occurred.  After the overthrow of Babylonia by the Persian Empire, in 537 BCE the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great gave the Jews permission to return to their native land, and more than 40,000 are said to have availed themselves of the privilege, as noted in the Biblical accounts of Jehoiakim, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

580 and 572 BC born, died between 500 and 490 BC) was an Ionian Greek mathematician and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. He is often revered as a great mathematician, mystic and scientist; however some have questioned the scope of his contributions to mathematics and natural philosophy. Herodotus referred to him as "the most able philosopher among the Greeks

 575 bc the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar captured Tyre, which now lost its independence and was no longer able to send reinforcements to Phoenician colonies if they needed them

560BC Babylonia ,Awil-Marduk (called Evil-Merodach in the Old Testament; 561-560), the son of Nebuchadrezzar, was unable to win the support of the priests of Marduk. His reign did not last long, and he was soon eliminated. His brother-in-law and successor, Nergal-shar-usur (called Neriglissar in classical sources; 559-556), was a general who undertook a campaign in 557 into the "rough" Cilician land, which may have been under the control of the Medes. His land forces were assisted by a fleet. His still-minor son Labashi-Marduk was murdered not long after that, allegedly because he was not suitable for his job.

 

(559–330 BC) The Achaemenid Persian Empire was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of Greater Iran. At the height of its power, encompassing approximately 7.5 million square kilometers, the Achaemenid Empire was territorially the largest empire of classical antiquity. It spanned three continents, including territories of modern Afghanistan, Pakistan, central Asia, Asia Minor, Thrace, most of the Black Sea coastal regions, Iraq, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and all significant population centers of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya. It is noted in western history as the foe of the Greek city states in the Greco-Persian Wars, for freeing the Israelites from their Babylonian captivity, and for instituting Aramaic as the empire's official language.

539 BC. After the conquest of the Babaylonians  the Persians under Cyrus allowed Sheshbazzar, a prince from the tribe of Judah, and Zerubbabel, to bring the Jews from Babylon back to Jerusalem. Jews were allowed to return with the Temple vessels that the Babylonians had taken. Construction of the Second Temple began. 

537 the overthrow of Babylonia by the Persian Empire, Persian ruler Cyrus the Great gave the Jews permission to return to the land that they came from, and more than 40,000 are said to have availed themselves of the privilege, as noted in the Biblical accounts of Jehoiakim, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

The Babylonian Captivity and the subsequent return to Israel were seen as one of the pivotal events in the drama between God and His people: Israel. Just as they had been predestined for, and saved from, slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were predestined to be punished by God through the Babylonians, and then saved once more. The Babylonian Captivity had a number of serious effects on Judaism and the Jewish culture, including changes to the Hebrew alphabet and changes in the fundamental practices and customs of the Jewish religion.

This period saw the last high-point of Biblical prophecy in the person of Ezekiel, followed by the emergence of the central role of the Torah in Jewish life.[4] This process coincided with the emergence of scribes and sages as Jewish leaders (see Ezra and the Pharisees).

Prior to exile, the people of Israel had been organized according to tribe; afterwards, they were organized by clans, with only the tribe of Levi continuing in its special role. After the Babylonian captivity, there were always sizable numbers of Jews living outside Eretz Israel, thus marking one starting point of the "Jewish diaspora."

 

550 BCE  The unification of the Median and Persian empires , Cyrus II and later his son Cambyses II curtailed the powers of the Magi after they had attempted to seed dissent following their loss of influence. In 522 BCE the Magi revolted and set up a rival claimant to the throne.

539BC  According to the Behistun Inscription pseudo-Smerdis ruled for seven months before being overthrown by Darius I in 521 BCE. The "Magi", though persecuted, continued to exist. A year following the death of the first pseudo-Smerdis (named Gaumata), a second pseudo-Smerdis (named Vahyazdāta) attempted a coup. The coup, though initially successful, failed. Whether Cyrus II was a Zoroastrian is subject to debate. It did however influence him to the extent that it became the non-imposing religion of his empire, and its beliefs would later allow Cyrus to free the Jews from captivity and allow them to return to Judea when the emperor took Babylon in 539 BCE. Darius I was certainly a devotee of Ahura Mazda, as attested to several times in the Behistun inscription. But whether he was a follower of Zoroaster has not been conclusively established, since devotion to Ahura Mazda was (at the time) not necessarily an indication of an adherence to Zoroaster's teaching
 

(513- 512)BC the Persians conquered Abdera, in northern Greece .

500BC  After initial success in conflicts with the Greek colonists, Etruria went into a decline. Taking advantage of this,  Rome rebelled and gained independence from the Etruscans. It also abandoned monarchy in favour of a republican system based on a Senate, composed of the nobles of the city, along with popular assemblies which ensured political participation for most of the freeborn men and elected magistrates annually.
 

520-516 BCE. Under the spiritual leadership of the Prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the Second Temple was completed. At this time the Holy Land is a subdistrict of a Persian satrapy (province) known as Yehud.
 

450 - 419 BCE Elephantine papyri of Jewish military colony in Egypt demonstrate in letters to the temple at Jerusalem that at this time some Jews were polytheistic, as letters specify that Yahweh was considered to have Anat as his consort.

(454) BC, Athens moved the treasury of the Delian League from Delos to Athens, allegedly to keep it safe from Persia

434 BC   to babylon?

387 BC  Rome is sacked and burned by the Senones coming from eastern Italy. Rome hastily rebuilt its buildings and went on the offensive, conquering the Etruscans and seizing territory from the Gauls in the north. After 345 BC, Rome pushed south against other Latins. Their main enemy in this quadrant were the fierce Samnites, who heavily defeated the legions in 321 BC at the Battle of Caudine Forks. In spite of these and other temporary setbacks, the Romans advanced steadily. By 290 BC, Rome controlled over half of the Italian peninsula.

(396) BC   Romans sacked Veii  Prior to this Rome was sited in Etruscan territory. There is considerable evidence that early Rome was dominated by Etruscans until the Romans sacked Veii.

348bc at the age of Aristotle leaves Platos Academy in Athens, and moves to Asia minor (Turkey)he later returns to start the lycium 

376 BCE Lex Licinia Sextia was a Roman law introduced around 376 BCE and enacted in 367 BCE

(332) BC Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great 

331 BCE. The Persian Empire was defeated by Alexander the Great. The Empire of Alexander the Great included Israel. However, it is said that he did not attack Jerusalem directly, after a delegation of Jews met him and assured him of their loyalty by showing him certain prophecies contained in their writings

323 BC Death of Alexander the Great

(322–185 BCE) The Maurya Empire (322–185 BCE), ruled by the Mauryan dynasty, was a geographically extensive and powerful political and military empire in ancient India. Originating from the kingdom of Magadha in the Indo-Gangetic plains (modern Bihar and Bengal) in the eastern side of the sub-continent, the empire had its capital city at Pataliputra (near modern Patna). The Empire was founded in 322 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, who had overthrown the Nanda Dynasty and began rapidly expanding his power westwards across central and western India taking advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the withdrawal westward by Alexander the Great's Macedonian and Persian armies. By 316 BCE the empire had fully occupied Northwestern India, defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander.

 

(321BC) The Partition of Triparadisus was a power-sharing agreement passed at Triparadisus between the generals (diadochi) of Alexander the Great, in which they named a new regent and established the repartition of their satrapies. Following the death of Alexander the Great  the rule of his empire was given to his half-brother Philip Arrhidaeus and Alexander's son Alexander IV. However, since Philip was mentally ill and Alexander IV born only after the death of his father, a regent was named in Perdiccas. In the meantime, the former generals of Alexander were named satraps of the various regions of his Empire.

(312 - 60 BC) The Seleucid Empire was a Hellenistic successor state of Alexander the Great's dominion, including central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, Turkmenistan, Pamir and the Indus valley.

(305)BC The Ptolemaic dynasty was a Hellenistic Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt for nearly 300 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC. Ptolemy, a somatophylax, one of the seven bodyguards who served as Alexander the Great's generals and deputies, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323. This  Greek royal family  ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt for nearly 300 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC.
 

(304 BC – 232 BC)   Asoka Mauryawas an Indian emperor, of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled from 273 BC to 232 BC. Often cited as one of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests. His empire stretched from present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan.He embraced Buddhism from the prevalent Vedic tradition after witnessing the mass deaths of the war of Kalinga, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest. He was later dedicated in the propagation of Buddhism across Asia and established monuments marking several significant sites in the life of Gautama Buddha.

300 BC, Euclid of Alexandria and the "Father of Geometry", was a Greek mathematician of the Hellenistic period who was active in Alexandria, almost certainly during the reign of Ptolemy I (323 BC–283 BC

281 BC Ptolemy II Philadelphus (Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Φιλάδελφος, 309 BC–246 BC), was the king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 281 BC to 246 BC. He was the son of the founder of the Ptolemaic kingdom Ptolemy I Soter and Berenice, and was educated by Philitas of Cos. He had a half-brother, Ptolemy Ceraunus, who became king of Macedonia in 281 BC and died in the Gallic invasion of 280-279 BC . Ptolemy II Philadelphus, is one of the Kings mentioned by Ashoka (enperor of India)  in his edicts, is recorded by Pliny the Elder as having sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the Mauryan court at Pataliputra in India: "But [India] has been treated of by several other Greek writers who resided at the courts of Indian kings, such, for instance, as Megasthenes, and by Dionysius, who was sent thither by Philadelphus, expressly for the purpose: all of whom have enlarged upon the power and vast resources of these nations." Pliny the Elder, "The Natural History", Chap. 21 [3]
 

264 and 146 BC.  The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage between  They are known as the Punic Wars because the Latin term for Carthaginian was Punici (older Poenici, from their Phoenician ancestry).  The main cause of the Punic Wars was the clash of interests between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. The Romans were initially interested in expansion via Sicily, part of which lay under Carthaginian control. At the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire, while Rome was the rapidly ascending power in Italy. By the end of the third war, after more than a hundred years and the deaths of many hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides, Rome had conquered Carthage's empire and razed the city, becoming the most powerful state of the Western Mediterranean
 

(218)BC  Hannibal surprised the Romans by directly invading Italy. He led a large army of mercenaries composed mainly of Gauls, Hispanics, Numidians, and, most famously, three dozen African war elephants, through the Alps. This move had a double edged effect. Although Hannibal surprised the Romans and thoroughly beat them on the battlefields of Italy, he lost his only siege engines and elephants to the cold temperatures and icy mountain paths. In the end it allowed him to defeat the Romans in the field, but not in the strategically crucial city of Rome itself, thus making him unable to draw the war to a decisive close.
Hannibal defeated the Roman legions in several major engagements, including the Battle of the Trebia, the Battle of Lake Trasimene and most famously at the Battle of Cannae, but his long-term strategy failed. Lacking siege engines and sufficient manpower to take the city of Rome itself, he had planned to turn the Italian allies against Rome and starve the city out through a siege. However, with the exception of a few of the southern city-states, the majority of the Roman allies remained loyal and continued to fight alongside Rome, despite Hannibal's near-invincible army devastating the Italian countryside. Rome also exhibited an impressive ability to draft army after army of conscripts after each crushing defeat by Hannibal, allowing them to recover from the defeats at Cannae and elsewhere and keep Hannibal cut off from aid.

 

188 BC The Treaty of Apamea, was peace treaty between the Roman Republic and Antiochus III (the Great), ruler of the Seleucid Empire. It took place after the Romans victories in the battle of Thermopylae (in 191 BC), in the Battle of Magnesia (in 190), and after Roman and Rhodian naval victories over the Seleucid navy.
In this treaty, according to Appian, Antiochus III must abandon Europe altogether and all of Asia west of the Taurus, he had to surrender all the elephants he had, and he should have only twelve war-ships for the purpose of keeping his subjects under control, but he might have more if he were attacked. He should not recruit mercenaries from Roman territory nor entertain fugitives from the same
 

(175BC) High Priest Simon II died. A conflict broke out between supporters of his son Onias III (who opposed hellenization, and favored the Ptolemies) and his son Jason (who favored hellenization, and favored the Seleucids) Huge numbers of Jews flocked to Jason's side, and in 167 BCE the Seleucid king Antiochus IV invaded Judea, entered the Temple, and stripped it of money and ceremonial objects. Jason fled to Egypt, and Antiochus imposed a program of forced hellenization, requiring Jews to abandon their own laws and customs. At this point Mattathias and his five sons, John, Eleazar, Simon, Jonathan, and Judah Maccabee, priests of the Hasmon family living in the area of ancient Modi'in, assumed leadership of a bloody revolt against the Seleucids.

174-163 BCE Antiochus IV Epiphanes: attempted complete Hellenization of the Jews, see also 1 Maccabees.
 

(146) The fall of Carthage was at the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC and is burned and destroyed. Its people are in-slaved by the Romans.  

122AD  A new city of Carthage was re-built on the same land, and by the 1st century it had grown to the second largest city in the western half of the Roman empire, with a peak population of 500,000. It was the center of the Roman province of Africa, which was a major breadbasket of the empire.
 

134-104 BCE John Hyrcanus, Ethnarch & High Priest of Jerusalem, "Age of Expansion", annexed Trans-Jordan, Samaria, Galilee, Idumea. Forced Idumeans to convert to Judaism, hired non-Jewish mercenaries, etc.
 

80BC Alexandria passed formally under Roman jurisdiction,   according to the will of Ptolemy Alexander but only after it had been under Roman influence for more than a hundred years. Julius Caesar dallied with Cleopatra in Alexandria in 47 BC and was mobbed by the rabble. His example was followed by Mark Antony, for whose favor the city paid dearly to Octavian. Following Anthony's defeat at Alexandria, Octavian took Egypt for his own, appointing a prefect who reported personally to him rather than to the Roman Senate. While in Alexandria, Octavian took time to visit Alexander's tomb and inspected late king's remains. On being offered a viewing into the tombs of the pharaohs, he refused, saying, 'I came to see a king, not a collection of corpses'. At the time it had the largest Jewish population of the world.

 

69–30BC Cleopatra VII  born in January was a Hellenistic ruler of Egypt, Cleopatra is reputed to have been the first member of her family in their 300-year reign in Egypt to have learned the Egyptian language. Cleopatra adopted common Egyptian beliefs and deities. Her patron goddess was Isis, and thus during her reign, it was believed that she was the re-incarnation and embodiment of the goddess of wisdom.
 

63 BCE Pompey conquered Jerusalem and the region and made it a client kingdom of Rome
 

59 BC.(the so-called First Triumvirate).Caesar somehow managed to forge a political alliance with both Pompey and Crassus . Pompey and Crassus would make him Consul, and he would use his power as Consul to force their claims. Plutarch quotes Cato the Younger as later saying that the tragedy of Pompey was not that he was Caesar's defeated enemy, but that he had been, for too long, Caesar's friend and supporter

57-55 BCE Aulus Gabinius, proconsul of Syria, split Hasmonean Kingdom into Galilee, Samaria & Judea with 5 districts of Sanhedrin/Synedrion (councils of law)
 

 51 BC, Pompey made it clear that Caesar would not be permitted to stand for Consul unless he turned over control of his armies. This would, of course, leave Caesar defenseless before his enemies. As Cicero sadly noted, Pompey had begun to fear Caesar. Pompey had been diminished by age, uncertainty, and the harassment of being the chosen tool of a quarreling Optimate oligarchy. The coming conflict was inevitable.
 

 49 BC, with Caesar crossing the Rubicon and his invading legions sweeping down the peninsula, Pompey ordered the abandonment of Rome. His legions retreated south towards Brundisium, where Pompey intended to find renewed strength by waging war against Caesar in the East. In the process, neither Pompey nor the Senate thought of taking the vast treasury with them, probably thinking that Caesar would not dare take it for himself. It was left conveniently in the Temple of Saturn when Caesar and his forces entered Rome.
 

48BC Pompey retreats to Egypt with Caesar on their backs, the conservatives led by Pompey fled to Greece. Caesar and Pompey had their final showdown at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. The fighting was bitter for both sides but eventually was a decisive victory for Caesar. Like all the other conservatives, Pompey had to run for his life. He met his wife Cornelia and his son Sextus Pompeius on the island of Mytilene. He then wondered where to go next. The decision of running to one of the eastern kingdoms was overruled in favor of Egypt

48BC After his arrival in Egypt, Pompey's fate was decided by the counselors of the young king Ptolemy XIII. While Pompey waited offshore for word, they argued the cost of offering him refuge with Caesar already en route for Egypt. It was decided to murder Caesar's enemy to ingratiate themselves with him. On September 29, his 58th birthday, the great Pompey was lured toward a supposed audience on shore in a small boat in which he recognized two old comrades-in-arms, Achillas and Lucius Septimius. They were to be his assassins. While he sat in the boat, studying his speech for the king, they stabbed him in the back with sword and dagger. After decapitation, the body was left, contemptuously unattended and naked, on the shore. His freedman, Philipus, organized a simple funeral pyre and cremated the body on a pyre of broken ship's timbers.

48 BC Caesar's Conquest of egypt Plutarch's Lives, written at the end of the first or beginning of the second century, describes a battle in which Caesar was forced to burn his own ships, which in turn set fire to the docks and then the Library, destroying it. This would have occurred  during the fighting between Caesar and Ptolemy XIII

48 BC, Ptolemy XIII and Pothinus attempted to depose Cleopatra VII due to her increasing status as Queen. Cleopatra VII proved more successful in winning Caesar's favor and became his lover. Caesar arranged the execution of Pothinus and the official return to the throne of Cleopatra.
 

(47BC) Born June 23 Ptolemy XV, Philopator Philometor Caesar, nicknamed Caesarion (little Caesar) He was the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, as a child, ruled jointly with his mother Cleopatra VII of Egypt from September 2, 44 BC to August, 30 BC, when he was alegedly killed by Octavian, who would become the Roman emperor Augustus. The eldest son of Cleopatra VII, Caesarion is considered (and it is highly likely, given the evidence) the son of Julius Caesar

46 BC  Mark Anthony  takes offense because Caesar insisted on payment for the property of Pompey which Antony professedly had purchased, but had in fact simply appropriated. Conflict soon arose, and, as on other occasions, Antony resorted to violence. Hundreds of citizens were killed and Rome herself descended into a state of anarchy. Caesar was most displeased with the whole affair and removed Antony from all political responsibilities. The two men did not see each other for two years. The estrangement was not of long continuance, for we find Antony meeting the dictator at Narbo (45 BC) and rejecting the suggestion of Trebonius that he should join in the conspiracy that was already afoot. Reconciliation arrived in 44 BC, when Antony was chosen as partner for Caesar's fifth consulship.

 44 B.C Ceaser assasinated. On March 14, 44 BC, Antony was alarmed by a talk he had with a Senator named Casca, who told him the gods would make a strike against Caesar in the Roman Forum. Fearing the worst, the next day he went down to warn the dictator but the Liberatores reached Caesar first and he was assassinated In the turmoil that surrounded the event, Antony escaped Rome dressed as a slave, fearing that the dictator's assassination would be the start of a bloodbath among his supporters. When this did not occur, he soon returned to Rome, discussing a truce with the assassins' faction. For a while, Antony, as consul of the year, seemed to pursue peace and the end of the political tension. Following a speech by Cicero in the Senate, an amnesty was agreed for the assassins.

44 BC The triumvirate brakes up . After  Gaius Julius Caesar's assassination, Antony formed an official political alliance with Octavian (Augustus) and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus,  Disagreement between Octavian and Antony erupted into civil war, the Final War of the Roman Republic,

(d. 43 BC), Antipater the Idumaean , like his father and grandson also known as Antipas, was the founder of the Herodian Dynasty and father of Herod the Great. A native of Idumaea, southeast of Judea between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, and which during the time of the Hebrew Bible had been known as the land of Edom, Antipater became a powerful official under the later Hasmonean kings and subsequently became a client of the Roman general Pompey the Great when Pompey conquered Judea in the name of Roman Republic. When Julius Caesar defeated Pompey, Antipater aided Caesar in Alexandria, and was made chief minister of Judea, with the right to collect taxes. Antipater eventually made his sons Phasael and Herod the Governors of Jerusalem and Galilee respectively. After the assassination of Caesar, Antipater was forced to side with Gaius Cassius Longinus against Mark Antony. The pro-Roman politics of Antipater led to his increasing unpopularity among the devout, non-Hellenized Jews, and he was poisoned. The diplomacy and artful politics of Antipater, as well as his insinuation into the Hasmonean court, paved the way for the rise of his son Herod the Great, who used this position to marry the Hasmonean princess Mariamne, endear himself to Rome, and usurp the Judean throne, to become king of Judea under Roman influence.

42BC  Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius had assembled an army in Greece in order to march on Rome, Antony, Octavian and Lepidus allied together to stop Caesar's assassins. After two battles at Philippi in Macedonia, the Caesarian army was victorious and Brutus and Cassius committed suicide (42 BC). After the battle, a new arrangement was made between the members of the Second Triumvirate: while Octavian returned to Rome, Antony went to Egypt where he allied himself with Queen Cleopatra VII, the former lover of Julius Caesar and mother of Caesar's infant son, Caesarion. Lepidus went on to govern Hispania and the province of Africa.


40-39 BCE Herod the Great appointed "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate. Herod the Great was born around 73 BC. He was the second son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high-ranked official under Ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros, a Nabatean. A loyal supporter of Hyrcanus II, Antipater appointed Herod governor of Galilee at 25, and his older brother, Phasael, governor of Jerusalem. He enjoyed the backing of Rome but his excessive brutality was condemned by the Sanhedrin. In 43 BC, following the chaos caused by Antipater offering financial support to Caesar's murderers, Antipater was poisoned. Herod, backed by the Roman Army, executed his father's murderer. Some of Herod's  achievements include the development of water supplies for Jerusalem, building The second temple, fortresses such as Masada and Herodium, and founding new cities such as Caesarea Maritima. He and Cleopatra owned a monopoly over the extraction of asphalt from the Dead Sea, which was used in ship building. He leased copper mines on Cyprus from the Roman emperor.

 

(39 BC) Antony sails to Greece with his new wife,  Cleopatra. The Parthian Empire had supported Brutus and Cassius in the civil war, sending forces which fought with them at Philippi; following Antony and Octavian's victory, the Parthians invaded Roman territory, occupying Syria, advancing into Anatolia and installing Antigonus as puppet king in Judaea to replace the pro-Roman Hyrcanus II. Antony sent his general Ventidius to oppose this invasion. Ventidius won a series of victories against the Parthians, killing the crown prince Pacorus and expelling them from the Roman territories they had seized. Antony now planned to retaliate by invading Parthia, and secured an agreement from Octavian to supply him with extra troops for his campaign. With this military purpose on his mind, Antony sailed to Greece with his new wife, where he behaved in a most extravagant manner, assuming the attributes of the god Dionysus (39 BC). But the rebellion in Sicily of Sextus Pompeius, the last of the Pompeians, kept the army promised to Antony in Italy. With his plans again disrupted, Antony and Octavian quarreled once more.

38 BC.  The triumvirate was renewed for a period of another five years. This time with the help of his wife Octavia (Octavian's sister), a new treaty was signed in Tarentum Octavian promised  once again to send legions to the East.

37 BC  Installs Herod the Great... Mark  Anthony sailed to Alexandria , skepticak of Octavian's true support of his Parthian cause. Leaving Octavia pregnant with her second child Antonia in Rome. Cleopatra, the mother of his twins lent him the money he needed for the army, and after capturing Jerusalem and surrounding areas in and, he installed Herod the Great as puppet king of Judaea, replacing the Parthian appointee Antigonus. Antony then invaded Parthian territory with an army of about 100,000 Roman and allied troops but the campaign proved a disaster. After defeats in battle, the desertion of his Armenian allies and his failure to capture Parthian strongholds convinced Antony to retreat, his army was further depleted by the hardships of its retreat through Armenia in the depths of winter, losing more than a quarter of its strength in the course of the campaign.
 

35BC    Lepidus was forced to resign after an ill-judged political move.  Octavian woos the traditional Republican aristocracy to his side, and becomes the sole power in Rome. He married Livia and started to attack Antony in order to raise himself to power. He argued that Antony was a man of low morals to have left his faithful wife abandoned in Rome with the children to be with the promiscuous queen of Egypt. Antony was accused of everything, but most of all, of "becoming native", an unforgivable crime to the proud Romans. Several times Antony was summoned to Rome, but remained in Alexandria with Cleopatra.
 

35bc ?  Marc Antony again invades Armenia, this time successfully. On his return to Alexandria, Surrounded by Cleopatra and her children, Antony. He distributed these concurred kingdoms between his children: Alexander Helios was named king of Armenia and Media and Parthia (which were never conquered by Rome), his twin Cleopatra Selene got Cyrenaica and Libya, and the young Ptolemy Philadelphus was awarded Syria and Cilicia. As for Cleopatra, she was proclaimed Queen of Kings and Queen of Egypt, to rule with Caesarion (Ptolemy XV Caesar, son of Julius Caesar), King of Kings and King of Egypt. Most important of all, Caesarion was declared legitimate son and heir of Caesar. These proclamations were known as the Donations of Alexandria and caused a fatal breach in Antony's relations with Rome.
 

 (34 BC) The Donations of Alexandria were a political statement by Mark Antony in which he distributed lands held by Rome and Parthia amongst Cleopatra VII and their children.

32 BC During the King Malichus II reign, in 32 BC Herod the Great started a war against Nabatea, with the support of Cleopatra. The war started with Herod's army plundering Nabataea and with a large cavalry force, and the occupation of Dium. After this defeat the Nabatean forces amassed near Canatha in Syria, but were attacked and routed. Athenio (Cleopatra's General) sent Canathans to the aid of the Nabateans, and this force crushed Herod's army which then fled to Ormiza. One year later, Herod's army overran Nabataea

31 BC. Antony was defeated by Octavian at the naval Battle of Actium, and in a brief land battle at Alexandria. He committed suicide, and his lover, Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, killed herself shortly thereafter  The war started with  Octavian's loyal and talented general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa capturing the Greek city and naval port of Methone, loyal to Antony. The enormous popularity of Octavian with the legions secured the defection of the provinces of Cyrenaica and Greece to his side. On September 2, the naval Battle of Actium took place. Antony and Cleopatra's navy was destroyed, and they were forced to escape to Egypt with 60 ships. Octavian, in August 30 BC, assisted by Agrippa, invaded Egypt. With no other refuge to escape to, Antony committed suicide by stabbing himself with his sword in the mistaken belief that Cleopatra had already done so (30 BC). Probably within two weeks following his death, Cleopatra committed suicide. Her servants, Iras and Charmion, also killed themselves, and Caesarion was murdered. Antony's daughters by Octavia were spared, as was his son, Iullus Antonius. But his elder son, Marcus Antonius Antyllus, was killed by Octavian's men while pleading for his life in the Caesarium.


31 BC — Judea suffers a devastating earthquake. Octavian defeats Mark Antony, so Herod switches allegiance to Octavian, later known as Augustus.

30 BC Octavian invaded Egypt , Cleopatra VII sent Caesarion, then seventeen years old, to the Red Sea port of Berenice for safety, with possible plans of an escape to India. Octavian captured the city of Alexandria on August 1, 30 BC, the date that marks the official annexation of Egypt to the Roman Republic.

(25–13) BC  Ceaserea city built by Herod the Great. Today, the city lies on the Mediterranean coast of Israel about halfway between the modern cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. In 13 BCE, Caesarea became the civilian and military capital of Judaea, and the official residence of the Roman procurators and governors, Pontius Pilatus, praefectus and Antonius Felix. Early Christian mentions of Caesarea in the apostolic period follow the acts of Peter who established the church there when he baptized Cornelius the Centurion (Acts, 10, 11). The Apostle Paul often sojourned there (9:30; 18:22; 21:8), and was imprisoned at Caesarea for two years before being taken to Rome (23:23, 25:1-13).
 

12 BC, March 6  after the death of Lepidus, Agustus additionally took up the position of pontifex maximus, the high priest of the collegium of the Pontifices, the most important position in Roman religion

10 BC APP— The newly expanded temple in Jerusalem was inaugurated. War against the Nabateans began.
 

4BC Herod the Great dies

4BC After the reign of the client king Herod the Great , Judea was added to the Roman province of Syria.

2 BC, February 5, Augustus was also given the title pater patriae, or "father of the country

Augustus Caesar (Octavian)

When Antony died, Octavian became uncontested ruler of Rome. In the following years, Octavian, who was known as Augustus after 27 BC, managed to accumulate in his person all administrative, political, and military offices. When Augustus died in 14 AD, his political powers passed to his adopted son Tiberius; the Roman Principate had begun.

The rise of Caesar and the subsequent civil war between his two most powerful adherents effectively ended the credibility of the Roman oligarchy as a governing power and ensured that all future power struggles would centre upon which of two (or more) individuals would achieve supreme control of the government, rather than upon an individual in conflict with the Senate. Thus Antony, as Caesar's key adherent and one of the two men around whom power coalesced following his assassination, was one of the three men chiefly responsible for the fall of the Roman Republic.

Augustus promoted the ideal of a superior Roman civilization with a task of ruling the world (the extent to which the Romans knew it), embodied in the phrase tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento—"Roman, remember by your strength to rule the earth's peoples!"[130] This fit well with the Roman elite and the wider public opinion of the day which favored expansionism, reflected in a statement by the famous Roman poet Virgil who said that the gods had granted Rome imperium sine fine, "sovereignty without limit".

 

Jesus Christ

 Greek word Christos to translate Messiah.Early Christianity, which began within ancient Judaism, arose out of the Nazarene schism, dividing the followers of Jesus, the Nazarenes, from the Jewish majority, the Pharisees. According to Walter Laqueur, these Nazarenes did not break with the religious laws and rituals of the ancient Hebrews, "this came only with the appearance of Paulus, who had not known Jesus. From this point on, Christianity was the new Israel." The movement spreads through the roman empire

Early Christian mentions of Caesarea in the apostolic period follow the acts of Peter who established the church there when he baptized Cornelius the Centurion (Acts, 10, 11). The Apostle Paul often sojourned there (9:30; 18:22; 21:8), and was imprisoned at Caesarea for two years before being taken to Rome (23:23, 25:1-13).

6 AD, Judaea, which had been a client kingdom of Rome (i.e., it had its own ruler), became a Roman province ruled by a Roman procurator, who was responsible for maintaining peace and collecting taxes. Pocketing any amount above the quota had been a regular practice, which led to abuse. Tensions rose when Rome took over the appointment of the High Priest, also beginning about the year 6.

6AD  The Zealots, founded by Judas of Galilee (also called Judas of Gamala) and Zadok the Pharisee  against Quirinius' tax reform, shortly after the Roman state declared what had most recently been the territory of the tribe of Judah a Roman Province, and that they "agree in all other things with the Pharisaic notions; but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that God is to be their only Ruler

26CE Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judaea from 26 CE to 36 CE; in this capacity, he was responsible for the execution of Jesus of Nazareth. This was not the only incident during his tenure of office, however. In this article, all these incidents are discussed. An attempt is made to show that Pilate was sincerely interested in Jewish culture and did his best to prevent unnecessary violence.
 

37ce  Flavius Josephus was born.  In the war between the Jews and the Romans of 66-70, the Jewish general Joseph son of Matthias defended Galilee against the Roman legions. After he had been defeated, he defected to his enemies, and advised the Roman general Vespasian. When the latter became emperor, his adviser started a career as a historian who tried to explain Judaism to the Greeks and Romans. His most important works are the Jewish War, the Jewish Antiquities, an Autobiography and an apology of Judaism called Against the Greeks (or Against Apion). As Roman citizen, he accepted a new name: Flavius Josephus. He must have died about 100, more than sixty years old.

39 AD, Emperor Caligula declared himself a god and ordered his statues to be set up in temples throughout the Empire. The Jews refused, and began preparations for armed revolt.

41 AD January 24, Caligula was assassinated by a broad-based conspiracy ). Claudius becomes Emperor

54 AD  Nero Claudius Caesar, he succeeded to the throne on October 13, 54, following Claudius' death.
 

64 AD   Rome on fire

64-66 AD Gessius Florus was the Roman procurator of Judea  was appointed to replace Lucceius Albinus as procurator by the Emperor Nero. He was noted for his public greed and injustice to the Jewish population, and is credited by Josephus as being the primary cause of the Great Jewish Revolt. Upon taking office in Caesarea, Florus began a practice of favoring the local Greek population of the city over the Jewish population. The local Greek population noticed Florus' policies and took advantage of the circumstances to denigrate the local Jewish population. One notable instance of provocation occurred while the Jews were worshiping at their local synagogue and a Hellenist sacrificed several birds on top of an earthenware container at the entrance of the synagogue, an act that rendered the building ritually unclean. In response to this action, the Jews sent a group of men to petition Florus for redress. Despite accepting a payment of eight talents to hear the case, Florus refused to listen to the complaints and instead had the petitioners imprisoned.

64-68  The first documented case of imperially-supervised persecution of the Christians in the Roman Empire begins with Nero (37-68). In 64 A.D., a great fire broke out in Rome, destroying portions of the city and economically devastating the Roman population. Nero himself was suspected as the arsonist by historian Suetonius, claiming he played the lyre and sang the 'Sack of Ilium' during the fires. In his Annals, Tacitus (who claimed Nero was in Antium at the time of the fire's outbreak), stated that "to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace" (Tacit. Annals XV)

64-67AD Paul is crucified Paul asserts that he received the Gospel not from man, but by "the revelation of Jesus Christ".

66 Berenice travelled to Jerusalem in 66 to personally petition Florus to spare the Jews, but not only did he refuse to comply with her requests, Berenice herself was nearly killed during skirmishes in the city. Likewise a plea for assistance to the legate of Syria, Cestius Gallus.    Berenice of Cilicia, also known as Julia Berenice and sometimes spelled Bernice (28 AD – ?), was a Jewish client queen of the Roman Empire during the second half of the 1st century. Berenice was a member of the Herodian Dynasty, who ruled the Roman province of Judaea between 39 BC and 92 AD. She was the daughter of King Herod Agrippa I, and sister of King Herod Agrippa II.    During the First Jewish-Roman War, she began a love affair with the future emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus.   Berenice reportedly used all her wealth and influence to support Vespasian on his campaign to become emperor.[20] When Vespasian was declared emperor on December 21 of 69, Titus was left in Judaea to finish putting down the rebellion. The war ended in 70 with the destruction of the Second Temple and the sack of Jerusalem, with approximately 1 million dead, and 97,000 taken captive by the Romans.[21] Triumphant, Titus returned to Rome to assist his father in the government, while Berenice stayed behind in Judaea.    Her unpopularity among the Romans however compelled Titus to dismiss Berenice upon his accession as emperor in 79. When he died two years later, so did Berenice disappear from the historical record.
 

(66–73)CE  The first Jewish-Roman War (years , sometimes called The Great Revolt , was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews of Iudaea Province The Zealots had the leading role. They succeeded in taking over Jerusalem, and held it until 70, when the son of Roman Emperor Vespasian, Titus, retook the city and destroyed Herod's Temple during the destruction of Jerusalem

73CE The Zealots are crushed by the Romans, and had little credibility (the last Zealots died at Masada in 73 CE). Similarly, the Sadducees, whose teachings were so closely connected to the Temple, disappeared. The Essenes too disappeared, perhaps because their teachings so diverged from the concerns of the times(66 AD Jewish discontent with Rome had escalated. At first, the priests tried to suppress rebellion, even calling upon the Pharisees for help. After the Roman garrison failed to stop Hellenists from desecrating a synagogue in Caesarea, however, the high priest suspended payment of tribute, inaugurating the Great Jewish Revolt. The destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE not only put an end to the revolt, it was a profoundly traumatic experience for the Jews that marked the end of an era.

79-81 CE   Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus, commonly known as Titus (December 30, 39 – September 13, 81), was a Roman Emperor who briefly reigned from 79 until his death in 81. Titus was the second emperor of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 and 96, encompassing the reigns of Titus's father Vespasian (69–79), Titus himself (79–81) and his younger brother Domitian (81–96). Prior to becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a military commander, serving under his father in Judaea during the First Jewish-Roman War, which was fought between 67 and 70. The campaign came to a brief halt with the death of emperor Nero on June 9, 68,  The Talmud adds that the sage Reb Meir Baal HaNess, a prominent supporter of Bar Kokhba's rebellion against Roman rule, is a descendant of Nero.

115 AD Alexandria is destroyed during the Jewish-Greek civil wars which gave Hadrian and his architect, Decriannus, an opportunity to rebuild it.

132–135CE  Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135) against the Roman Empire was a second major rebellion by the Jews of Iudaea and the last of the Jewish-Roman Wars.  Simon bar Kokhba, the commander of the revolt, was acclaimed a Messiah (rather than The Messiah), a heroic figure who could restore Israel. The revolt established a Jewish state for over two years, but a massive Roman army finally crushed it. The Romans then barred Jews from Jerusalem, except for Tisha B'Av.

143 AD candidate for bishiop of rome  Valentinus (c.100 - c.160CE) was the best known and for a time most successful early Christian Gnostic theologian. He founded his school in Rome. In Valentinian cosmology, the three sensations experienced by Sophia create three correspondent types of humans:
        hylics (who bond to matter, the principle of evil)    psychics (who bond to the soul and are partly saved from evil)
        pneumatics who can return to the pleroma if they achieve gnosis and can behold the world of light. The gnostics regarded themselves as members of this group.
 

215 AD The emperor Caracalla visited the city of Alexandria and, because of some insulting satires that the inhabitants had directed at him, abruptly commanded his troops to put to death all youths capable of bearing arms. This brutal order seems to have been carried out even beyond the letter, for a general massacre ensued. According to historian Cassius Dio, over 20,000 people were killed.
 

c. 240–January 7, 312[1]) Sint Lucian of Antioch (c. 240–January 7, 312[1]) was an early and extremely influential theologian and teacher of Christianity, particularly for the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics. He was noted for both his scholarship and ascetic piety. Teacher of Arian .

(c. AD 250-336) Christian theologian Arius , who lived and taught in Alexandria, Egypt, in the early 4th century. The most controversial of his teachings, considered contrary to the Nicene creed and heretical by the Council of Nicaea, dealt with the relationship between God the Father and the person of Jesus, saying that Jesus was not one with the father, and that he was not fully, although almost, divine in nature. This teaching of Arius conflicted with trinitarian christological positions which were held by the Church (and subsequently maintained by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches and most Protestant Churches

 

(263 – 339) Eusebius of Caesarea (c 263 – 339?[1]) (often called Eusebius Pamphili, "Eusebius [the friend] of Pamphilus") became the bishop of Caesarea in Palaestina c 314.He is often referred to as the Father of Church History

275 ad  Constantine I dissolved thee Praetorian Guard

303-305 The persecution of Christians by Roman emperor Diocletian

(311-355) Donatus Magnus was the leader of the Donatists, a rigorist Early Christian sect in North Africa

(314) Donatism was condemned as a heresy at various councils, most notably the Synod of Arles of 314

Constantine

364  Roman Emperor Flavius Valentinianus, known in English as Valentinian I, (321 - November 17, 375) was  until his death. Valentinian is often referred to as the "last great western emperor...

390  Theodosius oversaw the removal in 390 of an Egyptian obelisk from Alexandria to Constantinople. It is now known as the obelisk of Theodosius and still stands in the Hippodrome, the long racetrack that was the center of Constantinople's public life and scene of political turmoil. Re-erecting the monolith was a challenge for the technology that had been honed in the construction of siege engines. The obelisk, still recognizably a solar symbol, had been moved from Karnak to Alexandria with what is now the Lateran obelisk by Constantius II). The Lateran obelisk was shipped to Rome soon afterwards, but the other one then spent a generation lying at the docks due to the difficulty involved in attempting to ship it to Constantinople. Eventually, the obelisk was cracked in transit. The white marble base is entirely covered with bas-reliefs documenting the Imperial household and the engineering feat of removing it to Constantinople. Theodosius and the imperial family are separated from the nobles among the spectators in the Imperial box with a cover over them as a mark of their status. The naturalism of traditional Roman art in such scenes gave way in these reliefs to conceptual art: the idea of order, decorum and respective ranking, expressed in serried ranks of faces. This is seen as evidence of formal themes beginning to oust the transitory details of mundane life, celebrated in Pagan portraiture. Christianity had only just been adopted as the new state religion.

 

410AD Approximate end of the Roman rule of England, at which time the Romano-British formed various independent kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxons gradually gained control of England and became the chief rulers of the land, baring various Viking conquests. Until William the conqueror.

(415)AD Hypatia is killed by Christians and  the library of Alexandria is burned to the ground

428,  to the consternation of Cyril,  Nestorius, a priest-monk of Antioch,  became archbishop of Constantinople. Another fanatic, Nestorius greeted Emperor Theodosius with the words:

"O Caesar! Give me the earth purged of heretics, and I will give you the kingdom of heaven. Exterminate with me the heretics, and I will with you exterminate the Persians."
 

530   The Rule of St Benedict, is composed by Benedict

875 AD The arrival of the Vikings in Cambridge as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Viking rule, the Danelaw, had been imposed by 878. The Vikings' vigorous trading habits caused Cambridge to grow rapidly

1066  AD William I,  Duke of Normandy from 1035 and King of England from 1066 to his death. Claim the English crown, by invading England, and leading an army of Normans to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson (who died in the conflict) at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest. William I, he was formally crowned on Christmas day 1066, in Westminster Abbey, by Archbishop Aldred.

(1099-1291) The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted just under two hundred years, when the last remaining outpost, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks.
1184 catharism

1268  Philip IV of France (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called the Fair (French: le Bel), son and successor of Philip III, reigned as King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was King of Navarre (as Philip I) and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.

1307  On Friday, 13 October 1307, hundreds of Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of Philip the Fair, to be later tortured into admitting heresy in the Order.^[5] The Knights Templar were supposedly answerable only to the Pope, but Philip used his influence over Clement V, who was largely his pawn, to disband the organization. Pope Clement did attempt to hold proper trials, but Philip used the previously forced confessions to have many Templars burned at the stake before they could mount a proper defense.

1328  Robert I, King of Scots dies  His body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, while his heart is buried in Melrose Abbey. His heart was to be taken on crusade eventually to the Holy Land, but only reached Moorish Granada, where it acted as a talisman for the Scottish contingent at the Battle of Teba. Bruce secured Scottish independence from England militarily — if not diplomatically — at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

1382  John Wycliffe translated the Bible directly from the Vulgate into vernacular English in this year, now known as the Wycliffe Bible.  Wycliffe believed the pope and the Antichrist to be practically equivalent concepts.

1491  Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.

1503 August ,  James IV, King of Scots, married Margaret Tudor, the eldest daughter of Henry VII of England, and the spirit of the new age was celebrated by the poet William Dunbar in The Thistle and the Rose. The marriage was the outcome of the Treaty of Perpetual Peace, concluded the previous year, which, in theory at least, ended centuries of Anglo-Scottish rivalry.
 
1509 21 April – 28 January 1547  Henry VIII   He separated the Anglican Church from Roman authority, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and establishing the English monarch as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Although some claim he became a Protestant on his death-bed, he advocated Catholic ceremony and doctrine throughout his life;

1603 March The Union of the Crowns, the accession of James VI, King of Scots, to the throne of England , thus uniting Scotland and England under one monarch. This followed the death of his unmarried and childless first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I of England, the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.


 

1605 gun poweder plot
 

1651  leviathan     Thomas Hobbes (5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679), in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury,^[1] was an English philosopher, remembered today for his work on political philosophy. His 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of social contract theory

1700AD  Anthropocene is used by some scientists to describe the most recent period in the Earth's history, starting in the 19th century when the activities of the human race first began to have a significant global impact on the Earth's climate and ecosystems. The term was coined in 2000 by the Nobel Prize winning scientist Paul Crutzen, who regards the influence of human behavior on the Earth in recent centuries as so significant as to constitute a new geological era.

1829–1837  was the seventh President of the United States (1829–1837). Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845 was military governor of Florida (1821), commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans (1815), and eponym of the era of Jacksonian democracy. A polarizing figure who dominated American politics in the 1820s and 1830s, his political ambition combined with widening political participation, shaping the modern Democratic Party.^[1]